Language in the Academy

This book takes a critical look at why issues of language in higher education are routinely marginalised, despite the growing internationalisation of universities. Through analyses of a variety of intercultural encounters, the book highlights the range of interpretative possibilities available for understanding these encounters, and suggests the role that the reality of the contemporary intercultural dynamic between the Socratic and Confucian pedagogic traditions can play in driving change to the pedagogic practices of higher education. Another important aim of the book is to examine language in the academy as an object of cultural theory. While rooted in the practical and empirical reality of teaching and using language in higher education, this book argues for the importance of examining the institutional interface between language and higher education, and of critically exploring the values inscribed in the pedagogy and evaluation of academic language.

Joan Turner is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Centre for Language and Academic Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has worked extensively with international students as they familiarise themselves with the demands of UK academic culture, as well as with home students getting to grips with academic writing. Her research interrogates the context of operation for this work. She has published in the fields of Academic Literacies, Conceptual Metaphor, Cross-cultural pragmatics, English for Academic Purposes, Higher Education, Intercultural Communication, and Writing Research.